U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recorded nearly 50,000 arrests in July, marking the agency’s highest monthly total since President Donald Trump returned to the White House, according to government data.
ICE arrested 49,571 people during July 2026, according to government figures analyzed by the Associated Press. The total represented a 15% increase from the 43,021 arrests recorded in June and a roughly 70% increase from the 29,241 arrests reported in February.
The figures were provided by ICE to the University of California, Berkeley’s Deportation Data Project and obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.
The July numbers represent a significant increase from the period before Trump began his second term. In December 2024, approximately one month before Trump took office, monthly immigration arrests stood at slightly more than 8,000.
At the time, many arrests involved individuals transferred to ICE custody from state and local jails or prisons for immigration proceedings.
Arrest numbers climbed throughout Trump’s first year back in office as his administration loosened restrictions governing where immigration officers could conduct enforcement operations and which individuals could be targeted.
ICE also received significant additional federal funding in 2025, allowing the agency to hire approximately 12,000 additional agents. By December 2025, monthly arrests had climbed above 40,000.
Arrests temporarily declined to approximately 30,000 earlier this year following an incident in Minneapolis in which two activists were shot while attacking ICE agents. Monthly totals remained relatively steady afterward before increasing to more than 43,000 in June and reaching the administration’s new high in July.
The latest increase also came as federal immigration authorities adjusted their operational strategy.
Earlier immigration enforcement operations in major US cities generated significant media coverage and public attention. More recent operations have received less publicity while continuing to produce thousands of arrests.
Texas and Florida accounted for nearly 20,000 of the arrests recorded in July.
Both states have expanded their use of 287(g) agreements, which allow participating state and local law enforcement agencies to perform certain immigration enforcement duties in cooperation with ICE.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said earlier this year that federal authorities were moving toward a lower-visibility enforcement strategy while continuing the administration’s deportation efforts.
“Our arrests are on track, our deportations are way up, and we’re going to continue to go after the worst of the worst,” Mullin said. “That’s our focus. We’re trying to get the criminals off our streets.”
Separate reporting based on internal ICE figures found that more than 46,000 people were booked into immigration detention facilities during July.
That amounted to an average of approximately 1,500 people entering custody each day, although some had initially been encountered by U.S. Customs and Border Protection before entering ICE detention, per Trending Politics.
The overall immigration detention population also approached previous highs recorded during Trump’s second administration, reaching approximately 68,000 detainees in early August as federal authorities continued expanded enforcement operations across the country.
